Although there was a distraction, it was outside the arena. On the competition stage, the seven members of Shrek Academy had their backs to the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineering Academy team.
So they didn't know what had happened. Especially Huo Yuhao, who confidently stepped forward. One of his six soul rings glowed brightly. The members of Heaven Spirit Academy simultaneously groaned.
The Spiritual Interference hit the seven members solidly, but the terror on their faces quickly turned into excitement.
The power was too weak. Huo Yuhao, who lacked a 100,000-year soul ring, was only Level 25 at the moment.
A Level 25 Soul Grandmaster's Spiritual Interference, when distributed among seven people simultaneously, had almost no significant power.
The weak Spiritual Interference only caused the Heaven Spirit Academy members to be momentarily dazed, but it had no other effect.
Instead, it made the Heaven Spirit Academy members immediately realize that the six soul rings surrounding Huo Yuhao were fake. After all, how could a 100,000-year soul skill be so weak?
The young man clearly standing at the front of the team, the captain, immediately shouted: "Don't be afraid, it's fake! They're trying to scare us off."
The Heaven Spirit members immediately reacted and rushed forward. Huo Yuhao saw the opposing team's movement and realized something was wrong. This wasn't the script he had planned!
He couldn't really be blamed. He was just unlucky. Without the Ice Empress's soul ring, he couldn't sustain the terrifying aura of a 100,000-year soul ring, and he completely failed to scare the Heaven Spirit Academy members.
Because apart from the momentary flash of the fierce beast aura at the very beginning, the six 100,000-year soul rings around Huo Yuhao looked more like six red flashing light tubes. Anyone could see something was amiss.
"Retreat, little junior brother!" Xu Sanshi shouted, immediately rushing to the front. The other members of Shrek Academy also reacted quickly, rushing forward to block in front of Huo Yuhao.
Huo Yuhao recalled the six blood-red soul rings back into his body, realizing that this was not the time to think.
The battle officially began. Although the members of Heaven Spirit Academy included five Soul Ancestors and two Soul Elders, Shrek Academy only had four Soul Ancestors, two Soul Elders, and one Soul Grandmaster.
But the martial souls were enough to close the gap in soul power. Although their initial tactic failed, Shrek Academy still secured the victory. However, the strength of all seven members was fully exposed.
Most importantly, after this battle, not many spectators cheered for Shrek Academy. In the eyes of the spectators, Shrek Academy should have won with absolute strength, not resorted to such schemes.
This also sparked the idea of defeating Shrek Academy in the hearts of many academies that previously had no hope. When they stepped off the stage, the soul rings around Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen had already been withdrawn.
It wasn't until he stood beside Wang Yan and listened to Wang Yan's explanation that Huo Yuhao realized the reason for his plan's failure. He clenched his fists tightly, and his blue eyes showed a bloodthirsty glare toward the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineering Academy team.
Xiao Hongchen, standing in the team, noticed Huo Yuhao's gaze. He didn't care about Huo Yuhao's look. Instead, a gentle smile appeared on his handsome face, and he even waved at Huo Yuhao.
At the same time, five soul rings—yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black—rose from beneath his feet, giving him an innocent appearance.
"Bastards!" The short-tempered Ma Xiaotao couldn't help but curse when she noticed this.
The students of Shrek Academy all looked at the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineering Academy team with hatred.
If Huo Yuhao's plan had succeeded, they would have been the center of attention, instead of having their flaw exposed like this. Their subsequent matches would inevitably become extremely difficult.
"Teacher Wang, didn't they interfere with the match!" Wang Dong couldn't help but ask, noticing Huo Yuhao's expression.
"It doesn't count. The competition rules do not prohibit summoning soul rings outside the arena. In fact, in previous finals, Soul Masters would even release their soul rings to cheer on the contestants."
Wang Yan said, a hint of helplessness flashing across his face.
"Look, that's Shrek Academy. When they are strong, they wantonly trample on the dignity of the weak. When they are weak, they push the blame onto others, never reflecting on their own shortcomings."
Jing Hongchen's voice rang out faintly. The members of the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineering Academy all nodded, taking note of this point.
In the match just now, although the seven 100,000-year soul rings that appeared around Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen drew away most of the audience's attention.
The contestants on the stage were different. One must know that when the opponent suddenly summoned six 100,000-year soul rings, no matter who it was, they wouldn't notice the surrounding situation.
Furthermore, the arena was five meters high. The Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineering Academy, including all the students behind them, was within the visual blind spot. Heaven Spirit Academy couldn't see the Hongchen siblings at all.
Judging from the eyes of the Shrek Academy members now, they were clearly blaming the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineering Academy for their failure.
But the members of the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineering Academy didn't care. Since they were already at odds with Shrek Academy, why would they care about this small bit of enmity?
Wang Lin was actually a little surprised. The purpose of simulating the 100,000-year soul rings for the Hongchen siblings was to inform the other contestants that Huo Yuhao's six 100,000-year soul rings were fake.
Because the impact of those six 100,000-year soul rings had allowed Shrek Academy to proceed relatively smoothly before, Wang Lin hadn't expected Huo Yuhao's plan to fail.
It seemed the loss of that 400,000-year soul ring had a significant impact!
While Wang Lin was contemplating, Ma Rulong led the main team onto the stage. As the second team to compete, their opponent's strength was comparable to the one Shrek Academy faced.
They achieved victory through crushing dominance. The Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineering Academy, guided by the competition staff, became the second team to enter the rest area. They were seated very close to Shrek Academy.
As soon as they sat down in the rest area, a voice full of disdain came from Shrek Academy's side.
"Look. The Sun Moon Empire only knows how to use petty tricks." The speaker was the short-tempered Ma Xiaotao.
"How can you blame us for this? Anyone with a brain could tell something was wrong with six 100,000-year soul rings. You naively thought you could scare the opponent, and we were standing in the visual blind spot."
Xiao Hongchen's voice rang out. He didn't even look at the Shrek Academy side. He just stared at his own slender hands, as if admiring a work of art, completely disregarding Shrek Academy on the side.
"You guys!!!" Ma Xiaotao immediately stood up. A faint red flame began to emanate from around her.
Jing Hongchen frowned and was about to speak, but Wang Lin's voice rang out first: "Competition rules state that any contestant who attacks another contestant in the rest area is considered gross cheating, and the entire team will be disqualified."
Saying this, Wang Lin held up the small rule booklet in his hand.